Fallout 4 offers many customization options for armor, including the power armor. Normal armor has 2 different mods to choose from, but vault jumpsuits have one. Power armor is different because you can mod each piece of the armor. You need high-rank Armorer perks for all armor and also Science for vault jumpsuits and power armor.
I’ll go over the types of mods you can use in armor and what you need to make them. Check out my Fallout 4 Weapon Mod Crafting guide if you want info on weapons.
This guide will go over everything about crafting armor and power armor mods including:
- Armor Mod Crafting Basics – How to craft mods, perks needed, and examples of materials.
- Advanced Armor Mod Crafting – Each armor category and the mods you can craft for each.
Armor Mod Crafting Basics
You need an armor workbench to mod regular armor and a Power Armor station to mod power armor. Both are found throughout the world, or crafted at your settlement if you have rank 2 Local Leader perk.
Perks
If you want to make the best armor you can, you’ll need the right perks.
- Armorer (Str 3) – Allows you to craft mods for armor.
- Rank 2 – Level 13
- Rank 3 – Level 25
- Rank 4 – Level 39
- Science (Int 6) – Allows you to craft high-tech mods.
- Rank 2 – Level 17
- Rank 3 – Level 28
- Rank 4 – Level 41
You can also use the Blacksmith perk if you plan on doing melee damage in your power armor.
Materials
Every armor mod needs Adhesive, but the rest depend on the piece. Most pieces of armor use some of the items below.
- Cloth
- Fiberglass
- Steel
- Screw
- Aluminum
- Rubber
Power armor mods usually need extra things like circuitry, nuclear material, and other science materials. Grab anything you come across while exploring, then break it down for materials when you go to a settlement.
Note: If you use an item during crafting instead of breaking it down for materials, you lose any extra materials that the item has that are not used in the recipe.
Advanced Armor Mod Crafting
I’ll separate into 2 categories, normal armor and power armor. All normal armor have 2 mod options, vault jumpsuits are different.
Normal Armor
- Mod 1 – This increases the damage and energy resistance. Some armor give extras like improved stealth on leg armor.
- Mod 2 – There are a wide range of mods in this section. They involve reduced armor weight, increasing carrying capacity, reducing certain damage, and more.
Vault Jumpsuits
- Lining – Improves energy and radiation resistance.
Power Armor
All power armor have the same mods for the first 2 slots.
- Model – Increases damage and energy resistance.
- Paint – Changes various stats like resistances, or increased S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats.
Arm
- Misc Mod – Reduces action point cost, causes unarmed attacks to deal bleeding damage, increases unarmed damage, or add energy damage to unarmed attacks.
Leg
- Misc Mod – Increases carrying capacity, sprint speed, action point refresh speed, or increase radius for impact landing.
There are many mods for torso and helmet, so I’ll list them individually.
Torso
- Emergency Protocols – When below 20% health, speed increases 25% and incoming damaged reduced by 25%.
- Motion-Assist Servos – Increases Strength.
- Kinetic Dynamo – Taking damage recharges Action Points.
- Tesla Coils – Deals energy damage to nearby enemies.
- Blood Cleanser – Reduces chance for addiction from drugs.
- Core Assembly – Increases Action Point refresh speed.
- Medic Pump – Detects hits in combat and automatically uses a Stimpack when health is low.
- Reactive Plates – Reflects 50% of melee damage back on attacker.
- Stealth Boy – Activate stealth field when crouched.
- Jet Pack – Enables jet-assisted boost while jumping.
Helmet
- Targeting HUD – Visor highlights living targets.
- Internal Database – Increases Intelligence.
- VATS Matrix Overlay – Increases VATS hit chance.
- Rad Scrubbers – Removes radiation from consumed food and water.
- Recon Sensors – Sighted Aiming marks enemies with a compass pip.
- Sensor Array – Increases Perception.
You can also change the color of the light while in Power Armor for the helmet.
That’s it for my Fallout 4 Armor and Power Armor crafting guide. Don’t forget to visit my Beginner Tips and Tricks for more on the game. Let me know if you have any questions!
